Tuesday, April 12, 2016

In The Dog House

One man's trash is another gal's treasure.
 
An odd phenomenon has been happening on Jockey street.
People ditching their old doghouses.
Maybe their old faithful companions have outgrown their outdoor abodes...or sadly gained their angel wings.
At any rate out to the roadside the ol' doghouse goes....and into the back of our truck.
 
Twice we have been so lucky over the past few years.
Two doghouses we now own.
I know...why? wha? an old dog house?
For people with no dog? That's just the epitome of cray cray. 
 
Howsomever,
 ( I know, not really a word, spellcheck just let me know that)
You call it a doghouse...I call it a garden house.
With a little work and paint, we set off to make it what it ain't.
 
I had been in need of a focal point for our fern garden for years.
The ferns grow so tall anything without enough statue
 quickly becomes engulfed
and
 lost among green lacey fronds.
A "garden house" was the perfect fit.
 
So here you have it.
Doghouse turned garden house...or chicken curiosity...
or cat hangout.
By any name an awesome roadside find
 and welcome addition.
 
Discarded doghouse being loaded to go to it's forever home.
The owner even helped us load it up!




Dick covers the particle board and sets the house on stilts to aerate underneath to discourage the wood from rotting  

Two tree stumps in lieu of a ladder so curious kitties and chicks can peek inside

Soon the ferns will frame and then engulf the garden house

A cast iron urn with balled up string of lights is pretty in the day and night.
A mirror reflects both and adds an interesting optical illusion.
 
Babycakes checking out the garden house

An Antique purple glass lightning rod makes for frosting on the cake


Saturday, April 2, 2016

A Happy Home

 
I always felt a little unimportant as an artist.
I mean, I'm not curing cancer, I'm not fixing any of the world's many, many problems.
I just doodle and scribble pretty much.
I'm just purely decorative.
 
Then it was one of those days that we've all had.
 One you wish you could just skip over and forget.
One where if something was going to go wrong, it surely would.
Or one just full of bad news you wish it would just go away.
 
It was also one of those days like many others that yet another  shameful online purchase arrived.
Every time I hear that big brown, box truck downshifting a quarter mile away and my heart starts a beating.
I can't remember what arrived that day, but it was something pretty, or fancy or fun.
I can't recall.
But at that moment I had an epiphany.
It's just stuff.
The fluffy stuff in life.
But it really made me happy.
With everything in life to endure, be it bills, illness or sadness
this was a happy thing and it mattered.
 
That made me feel ok with being "just" an artist.
I get to make pretty things that might make someone happy, or make a happy home.
It's these "things" be it flowers for your garden, crazy new shoes, or pretties for your home that make the bad things more bearable.
 
So all that said I am honestly (and shamelessly!) proud to announce my own new line
of pretties for the home.
 
It was a labor of love designing fabric with my artwork and paintings and then having soft goods hand crafted.
Cushy pillows, cozy down eiderdowns quilts, and plump tuffets all covered with artful designs.
 
I am hoping that in some small way they may bring you some joy and comfort to you and your home.
 
Thanks to all who inspired and encouraged me!
 
To take a peek and learn more
visit:
 
 
DOWN PILLOWS
PILLOWS


DOWN PILLOW


DOWN PILLOWS

EIDERDOWNS

TUFFETS

EIDERDOWN

EIDERDOWN QUILT

TUFFETS